3,000 miles of Portland streets may get slower speed limits under new bill

Updated Jan 09, 2019; Posted Apr 24, 2017

About 3,000 miles of Portland streets could get lower speed limits under a new bill being considered by Oregon lawmakers. Arterial streets would be exempt, but officials are still deciding which streets are considered arterials. (Dave Killen)

House lawmakers on Monday voted to allow Portland officials to reduce speed limits on the city's 3,000 miles of residential streets.

House Bill 2682 comes after 44 people were killed in traffic accidents on Portland streets in 2016 -- the deadliest year in more than a decade.

The legislation allows the Portland City Council to adopt a resolution lowering residential street speeds from 25 mph to 20 mph.

Speed limit changes normally involve petitioning the Oregon Department of Transportation and impact studies. The process can take more than a year. Under Monday's bill, Portland officials could lower residential speed limits unilaterally.

"I'm very supportive of it, as is the city," said Dan Saltzman, the city commissioner in charge of the Portland Bureau of Transportation. "Giving us the authority to set those limits would make it easier to keep Portlanders safe."

Bill author Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, said his constituents are "deeply concerned" about the dangers posed by cars speeding in neighborhoods. Lowering speed limits on residential streets may save lives, he said.

"I think this bill would do a lot of good for my district," he said.

His legislative district includes Southeast Division Street, where five people were struck and killed by cars last year. City commissioners enacted a temporary speed reduction on Southeast Division in response to the accidents but will need state permission to make the change permanent.

Residential streets make up about 61 percent of Portland roads, said Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Dylan Rivera. Arterial streets are unaffected by Nosse's bill. But city officials are still trying to figure out which streets count as arterials, Rivera said.

Though he doesn't have a list of arterials, he said they are in general the bigger, multi-lane streets that carry transit. Streets like Hawthorne Boulevard, Southeast Division Street or Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard would likely not be affected.

House Bill 2682 passed 55-1 and now heads to the state Senate. The only "no" vote was from Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford.